Avril Lavigne [ tickets ] has a simple description for her upcoming live production.

"It rocks," Lavigne said during a recent teleconference. "It's very much me, but just the next level. And it's exciting because the reason why I wanted to bring in more [dancers] and I got a new band and added more players to it is because I wanted more energy on stage."

An explosion of color, Lavigne's stage will be decorated with LED screens, checkered flooring, a pink sparkle drum kit, a pink piano and flags. It will also feature a much more confident Lavigne, who is married to fellow Canadian Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley.

"A lot of people don't know this about me, but I''m actually shy around people I don't know," Lavigne said. "I would just say, with my first concert, my first tour, I didn't really talk on stage. I was like, 'Thank you. I love you guys,' or whatever.

"But now, I've just kind of learned to work a crowd. I've played so many shows now. It's been five years, and I've just kind of learned how to talk to an audience. The longer you do anything, the more you learn it and feel comfortable. I was always comfortable singing, but being a performer is a totally different thing. You want to keep the crowd watching you and interested and excited, so that's why now I feel like 'All right, I get to do this.'"

Lavigne explained she doesn't feel she'll be compared to acts like Christina Aguilera or Britney Spears now that she has incorporated dancing into her show.

"My songs aren't bubblegum pop dance songs and I don't have background dancers on every single song like them," Lavigne said. "I'm not wearing a headphone, microphone on my head. It's a totally different thing. I'm playing guitar. I'm playing the drums. I'm playing the piano. I've had dancers a couple of times and they're like 'my girls' and they come out with their attitude."

Lavigne is touring in support of her third album, "The Best Damn Thing," which spawned the hits "Girlfriend" and "When You're Gone." She said each of her albums is a reflection of her at that time in her life.

"My inspiration for this record, a lot of it came from my live show, knowing what kind of songs I wanted to play live," Lavigne said. "I wanted to play fast, fun songs. I loved playing songs like 'Sk8er Boi' on stage because the crowd just reacts, and I love it when everyone is freaking out and jumping. I like playing fast songs. I want my entire set to be fast.

"My last record, 'Under My Skin,' was pretty mid-tempo and darker and serious," she added. "It was like every song was like bringing down the audience, or whatever. I just wanted to rock, so that's why I've made a really up-tempo record just for the tour and was just like over that serious break-up thing, you know?"

Recently, Lavigne trademarked her name so she can offer exclusive items to her fans. For example, she said she's going to release a fragrance and clothing line.

"This is something I wanted to do," Lavigne said. "It's a clothing line I wanted to do for about three years. A lot of times, what people do is they do a licensing deal, and I didn't want to do that. I wanted to own a company and really be able to be a designer and be creative. And I've finally found someone to partner up with, and I'm very excited about it because I love clothes. I love anything visual. I'm excited to be able to focus on something else creatively. I love music. By the time I get off tour, I think [I will have been] doing music straight for seven years, so I look forward to something new to put my energy into, and to take a little break, even though I'll still be writing. I'll never stop."

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